SpaceX adds double batch of Starlinks
July 10, 2023
By Chris Forrester
July 7th saw SpaceX launch 48 Starlink broadband satellites into their transfer orbits. The launch was from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. On July 9th at 11.58 pm (Florida time) another batch of 22 satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral.
That launch saw the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster successfully land onto a floating barge stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 12th launch and landing for this particular booster.
The latter launch landed its booster on the ‘Just Read the Instructions’ barge waiting downrange on the Atlantic. This particular booster broke a number of records for SpaceX, not least the 16th use of the booster.
This launch carried 22 of the Version 1.5 ‘Mini’ Starlinks, a significant improvement over the more common versions and with increases in each satellite’s bandwidth capacity and service for clients.
SpaceX has now launched 4,698 Starlink satellites, the vast majority of which are currently operational, according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. Of this total 4,375 are working nominally and 3,740 fully operational.